by Laura Glenn
Of course, up until a few seconds ago when she accidentally felt the evidence for herself, she had thought it was impossible for her to be the cause of a hard-on in a guy who looked like…well…him.
She must have fallen and hit her head and was now, in reality, lying unconscious in the middle of Main Street in Stockton, dreaming that she was in the arms of some hot guy. Hopefully the kindly old librarian would be by at any moment and call for an ambulance.
Several minutes slipped past as neither of them spoke, the silence broken only by the rhythmic clip-clop of the horse’s hooves on the packed earth. The warmth emanating from the stranger holding her so firmly in his arms slowly began to permeate Kaitlyn’s clothing, allowing exhaustion to creep into her bones. She opened her mouth to engage Gabriel in conversation in order to keep her mind active but nothing came out. Her shyness all but strangled her as she battled to form a coherent sentence, certain that anything she might say would only cause her further embarrassment. She finally gave up and sagged against Gabriel’s chest, tucking her head under his chin as a wave of helplessness washed over her. She felt him stir but he said nothing and she was left with the sinking thought that this felt all too real to be a dream.
Kaitlyn wasn’t certain how long they rode but she guessed it had to have been a couple of hours. Finally, a number of fires came into view and, after several minutes, Gabriel slowed the horse’s gait as they approached what looked like some sort of encampment. She sat up, her mouth dropping open at the scene surrounding her. Milling around dozens of campfires were countless men, all wearing torn and tattered clothing reminiscent of the soldiers in the colonial militias during the Revolution. Several had various parts of their bodies wrapped in dirty, white bandages and a few other men were missing a limb. She blinked several times in disbelief as she watched a man hobble to a nearby campfire, using a large stick as a cane.
Gabriel reined in his horse and pulled his hands back, resting his palms intimately on her hips. “Good evening, cousin,” he said, looking down at a young man who had rushed toward them.
“Gabriel,” the other man replied in greeting, his attractive face splitting into a wide grin as his eyes landed upon Kaitlyn. “Another patriot of the fairer sex?”
Gabriel squeezed her hips gently, gaining her attention. “Miss McCann, this is my cousin Philip O’Connor.”
Kaitlyn barely heard him, her mind reeling from the feel of Gabriel’s palms holding her against him so firmly, almost as though he expected her to bolt at any second. A strange tightness settled in her chest as she fought to push aside the sudden primal cravings this strange man brought out in her. Her legs instinctively parted and she inhaled sharply, biting back the groan threatening to escape her lips as she thought she felt Gabriel’s cock grow erect against her ass.
She took a deep breath and forced a pleasant smile onto her face. “It is a pleasure to meet you,” she replied, looking down at Philip. She was impressed by how unaffected her voice sounded despite her rather unfamiliar physical urges.
Much to her simultaneous dismay and relief, Gabriel released his hold on her and dismounted, reaching up to lift her from the back of his horse.
As soon as she was on the ground, Gabriel grabbed her hand and led her several yards away to a tent in the middle of camp. He held the tent flap open, allowing the light of the lantern inside to spill out onto the ground at her feet. She ducked under the entrance, trying to calm her flipping stomach. A small, wooden desk and chair stood to one side and a bench was placed along the far wall. A pile of blankets and a pillow were neatly arranged against the wall opposite the desk, almost as though it were a makeshift sleeping bag.
With a gallant wave of his hand, Gabriel motioned her toward the bench, indicating that she was to sit. She complied, her stomach churning nervously. He followed her and positioned himself a few feet in front of her with his legs braced shoulder width apart and his arms crossed in front of his chest.
Suddenly, the pensive yet good-humored man she had ridden with through the forest disappeared. A man who exuded power and authority quickly took his place. Though Kaitlyn had been immediately attracted to him from the moment he extended his hand to her, his magnetism unexpectedly became so potent that Kaitlyn felt hypnotized by his dark gaze. Her body ached and she wished he would simply grab her and slam his lips upon hers.
“What is it the information you have come to give us?” Gabriel asked in a very businesslike tone.
Startled out of her reverie, Kaitlyn jumped slightly and dropped her stare, unable to hold it for fear of him figuring out what she thought about him. Deciding to play along until she could figure out what was happening, she quickly searched the information in her head about Eileen O’Connor’s wartime escapades.
“Well,” she began, her voice soft and quavering, “I had overheard some British soldiers speaking about moving east against the men stationed near Stockton, Massachusetts.”
Gabriel stared at her silently. His eyes were clear and unresponsive, as though he was withholding judgment. “How is it that you came by this information?” he asked, his voice uncompromising yet surprisingly tender.
A lump formed in her throat and she swallowed nervously, praying that he wouldn’t be able to detect the fact that she was lying. “Um…I overheard some British soldiers talking as they passed by where I live.”
If the look in Gabriel’s eyes was any indication, her prayer had gone unanswered. “And where is it that you reside? Surely your family must be worried about you,” he inquired, uncrossing his arms and clasping his hands behind his back.
His dark eyes bored into hers as though he was attempting to read her mind. Kaitlyn dropped her eyes to the ground. “I used to live with my father. But he died about a year ago. I do not have other family here.” With that small bit of truth, she began to feel her confidence return just enough to calm the erratic rhythm of her heart.
He shook his head, sighing as he straddled the bench and sat down facing her. “Madam, I do believe that to be the most honest thing you have said to me since you told me your name.”
Kaitlyn dashed a surprised look at him. The giant of a man did not sound very upset with her, despite the fact that he could tell she had lied about certain things. “How did you know?”
He shrugged. “I am a lawyer. It is my job to know when people are lying.”
Kaitlyn laughed softly and rolled her eyes, her stomach fluttering at his nearness. She tucked one leg underneath the other and noticed for the first time that his eyes were the color of chestnuts.
He raised his eyebrows quizzically as he stared at her. “Now perhaps you would care to regale me with the truth?”
She sighed heavily, her shoulders slumping. She was a horrible liar. She knew it and now Gabriel knew it too. Just what was she supposed to tell him? That either he’s just a character in a really strange dream or that she had actually been pulled back in time over two hundred years?
If this was all a dream, which it most likely was, then nothing would happen and she would eventually wake up, right? So, what was the harm in telling the guy the truth?
Kaitlyn shrugged, feeling a sudden buoyancy in her confidence level. “Honestly, I don’t even believe it myself. I don’t know why you would.”
“Just tell me what happened,” he quietly commanded in a low, almost gravelly voice.
“Well, I was in the library doing some research—”
“Whose library?” he curtly interrupted, his brow furrowed in confusion. “There is nothing but ale houses and merchants’ shops near where I found you.”
“Exactly,” she replied, feeling exasperation creep in at how he had so unceremoniously cut her off. This would all have been so much easier to prove if she hadn’t lost her messenger bag in that fog. “But where I come from, there is a public library. Anyway, I walked out of the library and into a dense fog. However, when I went through it, I found myself surrounded by pubs and shops…and British soldiers.”
The features on G
abriel’s face softened as a look of remembrance flitted through his eyes. “Fog?” he repeated, clearly disturbed by her words.
Kaitlyn nodded her head enthusiastically, excited about the thought of someone having seen what happened to her. “Yes! I forgot that you had been in the area at the same time. Did you see it too?”
He nodded slowly, his eyes narrowing into obsidian slits. “I rode through a terrible fog on my way through the village. ’Twas strange…one moment I was in the thick of the woods and the next I found myself surrounded by large homes, strange lanterns on tall poles and peculiar covered carriages. And then it was gone. I thought for a moment that I had been bewitched.”
Kaitlyn gasped in excitement and grabbed his forearms. “Yes! That’s exactly what happened to me!”
“Are you trying to tell me that what I saw was real?” he asked hoarsely.
She nodded, feeling her will falter at the sudden skepticism that began to creep into his eyes. Quickly, she came to the conclusion that she should lay all of her cards out on the table before she chickened out completely.
“What you saw was the world in which I come from. The future,” she whispered, her voice rapidly threatening to abandon her. “The year 2008.”
Silently, he gazed at her for what seemed like an eternity. When he finally spoke, his voice was even and deliberate. “You are saying that this fog brought you here from over two hundred years in the future?” His eyes narrowed again and he searched her face intently. “These sound like the words of the devil.”
The sudden change in his demeanor caught Kaitlyn off guard. “Do I look like Satan to you?” she asked, trying to sound very calm and logical despite her shaky voice.
Several moments passed in silence before Gabriel’s visage relaxed. He flashed her a roguish smile, obviously deciding that she was of little threat. “’Tis said the devil takes many guises, the most common being that of a beautiful, tempting woman.”
She dropped his gaze, feeling her cheeks flush. The air around her became hot and she realized that her hands were still grasping his forearms. She yanked them away as though his arms had turned into hot coals, noticing a flash of disappointment crossing his face. Certain that she was imagining the desire in his eyes, she focused intently upon the buttons of his blue coat. “Please don’t tell anyone what I’ve said,” she quietly pleaded. “I don’t want people to think I’m crazy.”
He tilted her chin up with his fingertips, forcing her to look him in the eyes. “Your secret is safe with me.”
“Are you saying you believe me?” she hopefully whispered, her skin burning beneath his touch.
“I do not know.” He dropped his hand from her chin and shook his head. “I would not have thought such a thing to be possible before now. You did seem to appear out of nowhere and you are dressed rather strangely. I do not believe you are lying to me now but perhaps it is simply because you have bewitched me.”
The seriousness of his face cracked into an easy, boyish grin. His eyes roamed languidly up and down her body, unleashing a powerful, primeval need deep within her. She nervously shifted her weight, uncomfortably aware of the moisture growing between her thighs. Her breasts ached for his touch and her breathing became shallow.
Without warning, a businesslike mask snapped into place over the previously aroused expression on Gabriel’s face. “And the information about the Redcoats’ plans to move against us? You do not seem to be lying about that but how could you know this if you are not one of our spies?”
“I found the information in a couple of books I ran across in the library. As far as I know it’s true,” she replied, shyly looking down at her hands as she thought about the absurdity of that notion that a man like him could be attracted to her. “They thought—I mean, think it might be easier to break the rebellion if they can pick off smaller militias one by one.”
“She speaks the truth,” a soft but firm feminine voice declared from the tent opening.
Relieved, Kaitlyn tore her eyes from Gabriel and peered around him. Beside Philip stood what appeared to be a young man. However, with the removal of the person’s tricorne hat and a few hairpins, the “he” became a “she” as long, straight brown hair cascaded down her shoulders. She shook her hair out and threw a small, impish smile in Gabriel’s direction.
“Eileen,” Gabriel slowly exhaled with an impatient sigh as he leaned away from Kaitlyn. “What the hell are you doing here? I thought I instructed you to stay home.”
Eileen dropped his gaze and cast her eyes at Kaitlyn’s feet, immediately looking contrite.
It was all Kaitlyn could do to not gape open-mouthed at the previously self-assured young woman who now bore the expression of a scolded puppy. Could this actually be the Eileen O’Connor? Was it truly possible that Kaitlyn could have somehow been transported back in time? Better yet, was it even a sane thing to consider? Perhaps her friends had been right. Maybe she had been spending too much time in libraries lately. She was beginning to hallucinate that she was living her research.
Gabriel crooked his finger at his sister, his jaw grimly set. “And how did you gain the information this time? As a patron of yet another tavern?”
Eileen shrugged, looking down at her feet. “Men’s tongues loosen more easily after a few pints of ale.”
“Do you have any idea of what could happen to you if you are discovered?” Gabriel had not shouted but his sharp, barely restrained tone caused Kaitlyn to wince nonetheless. “I swear, Eileen, I do not know of another way to make you understand the peril inherent in your antics.”
Eileen looked at Kaitlyn and rolled her eyes. “Does your family also try to tell you that because you are female that you are not capable of taking care of yourself?”
Gabriel sighed heavily and shook his head. “Philip, take Eileen and find something for the women to eat,” he commanded with a dismissive wave of his hand as he arose from the bench and stepped away from Kaitlyn.
Eileen gave Kaitlyn a small, reassuring smile before allowing Philip to escort her out of the tent.
Without thinking, Kaitlyn jumped up and grabbed Gabriel’s arm to stop him from leaving. He immediately turned, his eyes at first focusing on her hand and then traveling up to her face. Her pulse thudded wildly in her ears as her mind fought for control over her body. She needed to remember that this guy was probably already married or soon to be married to a Katie Macan. The last thing she needed was an angry woman on her hands.
Forcing her eyes to meet his, she finally found her tongue as she dropped her hand from his arm. “What’s going to happen to me?”
Much to her surprise, he tenderly tucked a stray strand of her long, light brown hair behind her ear, his fingers softly lingering on the sensitive flesh of her neck. His touch sent tiny shock waves down her spine.
“You need not worry. I will see to your safety,” he replied, dropping his hand to his side. “You may stay here tonight with Eileen. We will leave in the morning to meet up with General Washington’s troops.”
Kaitlyn nodded, unable to tear her eyes from his.
“Good night, Katie,” he whispered. His eyes lingered briefly upon her lips before he spun on his heels and disappeared into the darkness.
She felt the blood immediately drain from her face. Was it a coincidence that he had just called her “Katie”? Could she be Katie Macan?
Was this actually real?
Was she supposed to be here?
Chapter Two
If the rock poking her in the ass all night didn’t convince her that her surroundings were quite real then the fact that she now felt as though she were walking on shards of glass was certain to accomplish the task.
Kaitlyn stared at the business end of one of the officer’s horses as she attempted to keep a serene expression on her face. When Gabriel had mentioned that they would be marching in the morning, she didn’t given it much thought. Now she wished she had manipulated her way into riding with him. At first, the time passed quickly as she and Eileen chatt
ed away while they walked with the regiment. But after walking for several hours, Kaitlyn wasn’t certain how much more her feet could endure.
When she felt close to collapsing to the ground, they thankfully stopped for a lunch break. Unfortunately, by that point, Kaitlyn could no longer hide the fact that her feet felt like they were being stabbed with a dozen blunt knives every time she took a step. Eileen fussed over her like a mother hen all throughout lunch in the hopes that all Kaitlyn really needed was a bit of rest. However, when the younger woman realized that Kaitlyn was in no condition to continue the march, she decided to check Kaitlyn’s feet for further injuries.
“Is there a problem?” asked Philip as he strode purposefully over to the two women.
Eileen briefly glanced at her cousin as she began pulling off Kaitlyn’s hiking boots. “Her feet are becoming blistered. She is having difficulty walking.” Gently removing one sock, Eileen held up Kaitlyn’s reddened foot to show him.
Philip rolled his eyes and shook his head. “She should have stayed behind in the village if she cannot keep up with us.”
Eileen huffed indignantly and turned to glare at him. “How can you expect any normal woman to be used to such strenuous marching?”
“I do not, which is precisely why they should stay at home,” he snapped as he placed his hands on his hips.
Eileen stood and mimicked her cousin’s stance as she continued to look him straight in the eye. “Where is your gratitude? What if I had not made it to camp last night? The information she had saved your neck!”
“We have men whose boots have worn through and whose feet are bleeding as we speak. I cannot concern myself with the blisters of some woman,” he retorted with a snort.
“Hey, if you haven’t noticed, I’m right here,” Kaitlyn announced, her voice laced with annoyance. Since when did she become invisible? Not a moment had gone by, since she had arrived in camp that most pairs of eyes within twenty feet weren’t fixed directly on her. Now, suddenly, people were acting like she had disappeared into thin air.
